The invention relates to a dirt separator for cards and combs, which is located immediately in front of the doffing cylinder and has a knife blade which is located to point against the direction of rotation of the main cylinder, at an adjustable distance from the latter, and at a peripheral distance from a plate lying in front of the knife blade and extending at a short radial distance from the main cylinder, said dirt separator also having a base face adjoining the knife blade in the direction of rotation of the main cylinder, and an extraction chamber bridging the gap between the plate and the knife blade.
A dirt separator of this type serves to remove the particles of dirt still remaining in the fibres after carding or combing. However, it has been found that the run of the fibres leaving the card or comb is apparently disturbed by a dirt separator of this type, since the parallel alignment of the fibres is not so extensive as it is in the processing of fibres on a card or comb which contains no dirt separator of this type.